Pandemic Crisis Research Articles

Post - Pandemic Crisis Consumption Practices to Frozen Food Products in Indonesia

Post - Pandemic Crisis Consumption Practices to Frozen Food Products in Indonesia

Patterns of News Consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis: A 2.5 Year Longitudinal Study in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT During major long-term crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, news media are crucial sources of information for the public. This study aimed to explore the frequency of COVID-19-related news consumption based on (1) phase of the pandemic, (2) socio-demographic characteristics, and (3) news information channels. The study used a dynamic cohort design with 18 rounds of data collection, including 306,692 responses from 83,180 unique respondents in the Netherlands from 17 April 2020 to 11 September 2022. Results showed that the frequency of general COVID-19-related news media consumption varied throughout the pandemic, following a general decreasing trend with relative spikes often coinciding with periods of stricter behavioural regulations. TV news, newspapers, and online news websites were the most popular news information channels among the respondents. Furthermore, multilevel regression analyses identified several socio-demographic factors influencing news consumption and preferred channels, namely age, migration background, living status, health status, and trust in government — these results remained stable throughout the pandemic. This study highlights the importance of selecting appropriate news channels to effectively reach different socio-demographic groups and shows that during a prolonged crisis, news consumption about the crisis fluctuates with worsening conditions but generally follows a decreasing trend.

Concerns and challenges faced by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder during the coronavirus pandemic in Indian scenario

IntroductionThe coronavirus pandemic has prevented children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from procuring clinical services which have led to changes in lifestyle and daily routines. Also, the parents of children with ASD were concerned regarding maintaining routines and introducing new experiences to their children during the pandemic. This is a cross-sectional study that explored the concerns and challenges faced by parents of children with ASD during the coronavirus pandemic.AimThe main objectives of this study were to profile the communication difficulties and environmental changes adopted by parents of children with ASD who did not have proper access to healthcare/rehab facilities during the pandemic in Indian scenario.Material and methodsIn total, 51 parents of children with ASD in the age range of 3 to 10 years participated in this study. They were asked to fill in a questionnaire (Google form) that had 20 close ended questions on their children's prelinguistic skills, communication behaviors, behavioral aspects, and emotional variations before and during the pandemic.Results and discussionThe results revealed that children with ASD exhibited significant emotional and behavioral upheaval due to interruptions in routine connected to COVID-19. Depending on the severity of the disorder, children had difficulty in several tasks such as comprehension of simple commands and expression of daily needs. Also, the parents of children with ASD were concerned about maintaining routines and introducing new experiences to their children during the pandemic.ConclusionsIndividuals with ASD are a significant population who may require special assistance during the pandemic and future public health crises.

The Impact of Business Uncertainty on the Performance of Small Enterprises During the Economic Crises in Sri Lanka

Small enterprises often regarded as the backbone of economies, are currently confronted with unprecedented challenges due to the uncertain conditions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the study attempts to assess the impact of uncertainty in the business environment on the business performance of small enterprises in Sri Lanka during the economic crisis. The study is a deductive and explanatory approach in quantitative design. The primary data was collected for a structured questionnaire from 185 owners of small enterprises in Kalutare district, Sri Lanka. The data was analyzed by using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling. The results revealed that demand uncertainty, supply uncertainty, price uncertainty, policy uncertainty, and behavioral uncertainty have negatively affected business performance while technological uncertainty does not have a significant impact on business performance. Thus, the study empirically exposed that the business performance of small enterprises is severely blocked by business uncertainty during the economic crisis. Therefore, small enterprises should plan business activities to make rational business decisions based on reliable information to achieve better business performance by avoiding uncertainty during the economic crisis.

Moving from crisis response to a learning health system: Experiences from an Australian regional primary care network

AbstractIntroductionThe COVID‐19 pandemic challenged primary care to rapidly innovate. In response, the Western Victorian Primary Health Network (WVPHN) developed a COVID‐19 online Community of Practice comprising general practitioners (GPs), practice nurses, pharmacists, aged care and disability workers, health administrators, public health experts, medical specialists, and consumers. This Experience Report describes our progress toward a durable organizational learning health system (LHS) model through the COVID‐19 pandemic crisis and beyond.MethodsIn March 2020, we commenced weekly Community of Practice sessions, adopting the Project ECHO (Extension of Community Health Outcomes) model for a virtual information‐sharing network that aims to bring clinicians together to develop collective knowledge. Our work was underpinned by the LHS framework proposed by Menear et al. and aligned with Kotter's eight‐step change model.ResultsThere were four key phases in the development of our LHS: build a Community of Practice; facilitate iterative change; develop supportive organizational infrastructure; and establish a sustainable, ongoing LHS. In total, the Community of Practice supported 83 unique COVID‐19 ECHO sessions involving 3192 h of clinician participation and over 10 000 h of organizational commitment. Six larger sessions were run between March 2020 and September 2022 with 3192 attendances. New models of care and care pathways were codeveloped in sessions and network leaders contributed to the development of guidelines and policy advice. These innovations enabled WVPHN to lead the Australian state of Victoria on rates of COVID vaccine uptake and GP antiviral prescribing.ConclusionThe COVID‐19 pandemic created a sense of urgency that helped stimulate a regional primary care‐based Community of Practice and LHS. A robust theoretical framework and established change management theory supported the purposeful implementation of our LHS. Reflection on challenges and successes may provide insights to support the implementation of LHS models in other primary care settings.

Assessing the Impact of the ECB’s Unconventional Monetary Policy on the European Stock Markets

This study assesses the effects of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) unconventional monetary policy (UMP) on the prices of selected European stock market indices during the European sovereign debt (2010–2012) and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022) crises interventions. This research employs the instrumental variables (IV) two-stage least squares (2SLS) model approach to evaluate the effects of changes in the size of the ECB’s balance sheet on the pricing of key equity market indices in Europe. The results of this study suggest that the ECB’s asset value expansion had the opposite statistically significant effects on the European stock market indices’ prices between the interventions. That is, an increase in the ECB’s balance sheet size was associated with a decrease in the prices of the indices during the sovereign debt crisis and with a rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research pinpoints the price sensitivity of each of the European equity indices to the ECB’s UMP and determines the different outcomes of the ECB’s quantitative easing policy between the interventions.

‘Make it look a little like a festival’: Film exhibition and festival organizing at Films Femmes Méditerranée during the COVID-19 pandemic

This article attends to the strategies of survival, affective labour, and practices of care – for women’s film work and publics – within women’s film festivals during the COVID-19 pandemic through the case study of Films Femmes Méditeranée, a women’s film festival based in Marseille, France. The festival was founded in 2007 to give visibility to the work of female filmmakers from the Mediterranean through a curated program of films, showcased in art-house theatres, with free screenings for young audiences, students, the unemployed, and people living on social benefits. Drawing on interviews conducted with workers at Films Femmes Méditeranée, I first provide an overview of the history and the mandate of Films Femmes Méditeranée in relation to the legacy of early women’s film festivals by bringing to light the work of care carried on in the context of Marseille. I will then analyse Films Femmes Méditeranée’s practices of curation and care through digital media during the pandemic. Through a consideration of the labour of film programming and festival organizing vis-à-vis social distancing measures and an examination of curatorial choices, I interrogate how Films Femmes Méditeranée has adapted to the pandemic crisis through digital media to maintain its commitment to fostering transnational approaches to women’s film culture and to provide a space for encounters between female filmmakers and audiences.

Educational Poverty and Deprivation: Attitudes and the Role of Teachers during the Pandemic

Educational poverty is widespread in compulsory education in terms of poor learning and socio-cultural disadvantages; it affects students with disabilities, students with learning difficulties, and those with an immigrant background. During the pandemic crisis, students with special educational needs (SENs) mostly suffered the risk of an additional deprivation. Within an advanced inclusive model during school closure, the Italian State guaranteed access to schools only to students with disabilities. What effects did this “equalizing” measure produce? What kinds of attitudes have teachers adopted and what roles have they played (active vs. passive) in order to make it sustainable? What was their acknowledgement of the educational poverty and deprivation? To what extent were their attitudes differentiated? This article explores the roles and attitudes of teachers during periods of lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. We assume that the teachers’ attitudes were differentiated on the basis of five cultural dimensions (auto/hetero-referencing; vision of remote teaching; relationship with bureaucracy, relationships with students; teaching as performance or relation), and two functions (classroom teachers/ SENs teachers). The study is based on 42 semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers, principals, and parents in six lower secondary public schools with high rates of SENs students and multi-ethnicity (Northern Italy), and focused on the organisational, teaching, and relational aspects. Results seem to confirm that not all teachers agreed with the Ministry line and adopted a range of responses to the challenge of maintaining inclusivity, from the inert/impatient to the creative/active ones. Their attitudes changed during the post-pandemic period from atomistic to more collaborative, and their preoccupation with the fragile “uncertified students” increased. The article closes with recommendations on teacher training.

The pandemic crisis in Italy: an assessment through a new classifier of firm economic-financial solidity

The pandemic crisis in Italy: an assessment through a new classifier of firm economic-financial solidity

Innovation Success in the European Union: Aggregate Demand Analysis

In the current period of uncertainty in the European Union, innovation is becoming a key factor for maintaining not only economic stability but also competitiveness in the globalised environment. Following the financial crisis that hit Europe, aggregate demand indicators slowly started to stabilise, mostly reaching their peak in 2019. However, in the following year, due to the pandemic crisis, these indicators fell again, posing a new challenge for researchers around the world. This study examines the relationship between macroeconomic indicators of aggregate demand and innovation performance in 25 EU countries. Using data for the period 2013-2021 as input for the regression analysis, the research identifies firm investment and exports as important innovation support factors and highlights their key role. On the other hand, the research shows that household consumption and imports are barriers to innovation. Somewhat surprisingly, government spending on goods and services does not have a significant impact on innovation success, underlining the need to rethink government investment policies. This finding highlights the need for a more thorough analysis of the effectiveness of state investment in innovation and possible adjustments to state policies to maximise the promotion of innovation activities in the state. The study also highlights the importance of comprehensive strategies that promote investment and exports, while emphasising the removal of barriers to innovation in the form of household consumption and imports.

Global pandemic governance: A multilevel concept for managing pandemic crises worldwide

This article examines how countries can effectively respond to global health pandemics in six stages. Previous research has assumed that human social and economic activities affect the spread of viral infectious diseases, and it has been noted that countries fight global pandemics independently, making the response inefficient. As no comprehensive governing guidelines exist for managing global public health pandemics, this article argues for the need for an international, integrated governance framework, offering theoretical reflections on a novel integrated, multilevel governance concept, the Global Governance of Pandemic Crises (GGPC), which is centered around crisis management theory at an international level. The article differentiates four pandemic governance processes—risk, emergence, recovery, and goal governance—in six pandemic periods that are linked to different processes of public health pandemic governance. The GGPC concept may prove useful to organisations responsible for governing pandemics and implementing relevant measures in affected countries.

CEO power and firm risk at the onset of the 2007 financial crisis and the COVID-19 health crisis: international evidence

AbstractWe investigate the association between CEO power and firm risk at the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007 and the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis in 2020. Examining an international sample of publicly listed firms in the G7 nations between 2006 and 2021, we show that firms led by CEOs with greater power are exposed to higher risk than firms led by CEOs with lesser power. The result is primarily driven by the impact of CEO power on idiosyncratic risk rather than systematic risk. Further, we find that powerful CEOs tend to be more cautious and conservative during crises that they have no reference for or experience of, as in the case of the pandemic, during which the positive power–risk associations are less pronounced. Nevertheless, the power–risk association remains relatively unchanged during the more familiar financial crisis. This study has important implications for firms, investors, regulators, and policymakers.

Exploring a Self-Sufficiency Approach within a Sustainable Integrated Pisciculture Farming System

The pandemic crisis has created significant challenges for small farms, leading to increased energy costs, higher prices for feed and nutrients, unreliable supplies of chemical fertilizers, and disruptions in product sales markets. These factors have collectively compromised the operational viability and economic sustainability of small-scale agricultural enterprises. To address these challenges, this paper explores the concept of a self-sufficient farming system, focusing on locally producing most of the resources needed to sustain operations and reduce dependence on external sources. A self-sufficient integrated pisciculture farming system is proposed and evaluated, promoting an autonomous circular model that prioritizes environmental sustainability. This system incorporates the integration of local livestock into fish diets, production of renewable energy sources, and efficient water and sludge management to reduce reliance on external resources. The detailed methodology used to evaluate sustainability indicators objectively demonstrates that the proposed system can be self-sustainable and autonomous; however, it requires considerable initial investments that can be recovered within at least six years. Optimizing the energy management plan can reduce daily power consumption by up to 25%. However, local conditions may challenge the efficiency of photovoltaic–hybrid energy production, requiring slight oversizing of the system. The research indicated that rearing carp with cereal-based feed mixtures produces growth results comparable to those achieved with commercially purchased feed. The indicators of resource efficiency, reliability, flexibility, productivity, environmental impact, and social impact were met as expected. The weakest indicator was the technology’s potential for scalability, due to its strong dependence on various regional factors.

Four Years of Anti-COVID-19 Regulations in Greece: Overview of the Legislative and Regulatory Process and of an Exemplary Administrative Codification

Abstract In the 25th of February 2024, four years since the first Act of Legislative Content of the Greek Government concerning the prevention and limitation of the spreading of coronavirus COVID-19 were completed. The regulatory production of this period is huge and has a series of unique characteristics with prevailing one the use of means of extraordinary legislation as foreseen in the Greek Constitution. All these measures are presented in a consolidated form in the “Special Administrative Codification of urgent regulatory measures to prevent and limit the spreading of coronavirus COVID-19 and to deal with relevant problems” under the short name of PANDEKTIS, conducted by the Department of Administrative Codifications – Raptarchis of the Secretariat General for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs of the Presidency of the Greek Government. The study of this monumental work gives rise to very interesting findings, about the way Hellenic Government handled the Pandemic crisis. This article presents the law-making process and the process of issuing secondary legislation during the Pandemic, its quantitative and qualitative characteristics with special comment on the fulfillment of the rules and principles of Better Regulation and discusses the use of administrative codification as a means of reflecting an holistic picture of the regulatory production during a period of crisis.

Nurse Empowerment in a Tertiary University Hospital during Pandemic Crisis.

Nurse empowerment is essential to ensure delivery of the best quality patient care and attaining positive nurse outcomes. Studies describe its relationship to retention, patient safety, commitment, productivity, job satisfaction, and positive outcomes. The study aimed to determine the level of empowerment of nurses in a tertiary university hospital during the pandemic crisis. The study was an exploratory descriptive cross-sectional design. Participants (N = 176, Nurses) were randomly selected through a sampling frame. The validated self-administered questionnaire, the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire II, was used for data collection. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between the means of the participants' empowerment scores when grouped according to their demographic profile. The study found that the nurses in the tertiary university hospital have an overall moderate level of empowerment (TSE = 22.69, SD = 3.53; GE = 3.72, SD = 1.01). It was also found that there were statistically significant differences between the means of their total structural and global empowerment scores when grouped according to their age group, civil status, length of service, level of position, and area designation; while no statistically significant difference existed when grouped by their sex and level of education. Since nurse empowerment leads to positive nurse and patient outcomes, improving levels of empowerment is thus essential. The results of this study will help administrators identify groups of nurses with relatively lower levels of empowerment and in turn develop programs that will help improve their levels of empowerment.

Loneliness in times of global polycrises

Global polycrises comprise the synchronous or consecutive occurrence of various crises, with no intervening phases of stability, e.g., coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, inflation, war and climate crisis. This poses challenges for both society as awhole and its individual members. Polycrises are associated with enormous psychological stress, especially for vulnerable groups. Polycrises also impair social interaction, which can trigger or intensify subjectively stressful loneliness. The aim of this narrative review is to show how loneliness affects social behavior in times of global polycrises and what the consequences are. Loneliness is associated with both mental and physical morbidity and mortality as well as being asignificant barrier to recovery. Studies have shown that there is amutual detrimental influence between mental illness and loneliness. The social behavior of chronically lonely people is characterized by anegative cognitive bias, hypervigilance in the social context and adysregulated oxytocin system. Furthermore, the quality and quantity of these relationships are significantly impaired. The social consequences of loneliness are, for example, adecrease in social engagement and low voting participation. The phenomenon of loneliness clearly shows that crises can exacerbate latent problems and bring them to the surface; however, crises should also be seen as an opportunity to openly and constructively address shame-laden topics such as loneliness in public discourse and in psychotherapeutic settings.

Small independent retailers: digitalize or disappear? An empirical study based on dynamic capabilities

PurposeThis study analyzes how small French retailers are adapting their front-office to the digitalization of their business environment.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative study focuses on dynamic capabilities of 27 independent French retailers, in a wide variety of sectors.FindingsThe digitalization of small retailers does not date from the pandemic health crisis. Small retailers are willing, agile and organized to make controlled progress, ranging from the visibility on social networks to online sales with its specific logistical constraints. Even if their presence on marketplaces is trickier to implement, it represents the culmination of the digitalization process, once their online store has been launched. The digital transformation of independent retailers should be less radical than for large retailers.Research limitations/implicationsBy distinguishing between the concepts of adaptive, absorptive and innovative capabilities, this research highlights strong differences between small retailers, that is SMEs, and larger companies. In terms of adaptive capabilities, it confirms that small retailers are not embracing digitalization as a fad, but because of real changes in the market, and particularly in demand. In contrast to large companies, small retailers drive it more around external objectives linked to their intimate knowledge of changing customer behavior (customer centricity). In terms of absorptive capabilities, the success or failure of digital transformation weighs directly on the entrepreneur's shoulders, but is less hampered by technological legacy. Despite interviews only conducted in the Paris region, it converges with professional studies carried out on a larger scale in France. Its widespread use is certainly easier in countries at the same stage of commercial development.Practical implicationsIn terms of innovative capabilities, independent retailers need to focus on four key areas: reinventing the in-store experience; increasing visibility on social networks; creating an online store; being present in one or two marketplaces or creating a common platform with other local merchants.Originality/valueThis research is one of the first to analyze the digital transformation experienced by small structures. It draws on the concept of dynamic capabilities, well-suited to technologically and commercially dynamic markets. It puts into perspective studies carried out in other countries on less diversified types of shops. Unlike other studies examining the front office, it does not exclude stores and SEO in marketplaces.

How Can We Improve Employee Well-Being in Teachers? The Importance of Individual and Job Resources

According to one of the UN agencies, UNESCO, during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, more than sixty-three million teachers worldwide experienced technical and psychological problems due to changes in the learning process. This is not only because of the pandemic and monetary crisis in Indonesia but also because the increasing number of teachers' tasks and demands for professionalism can make teachers experience changes in the perceived condition of employee well-being. Several factors, including work stress, perceived organizational support and emotional regulation, psychologically influence the condition of teachers' employee well-being. Based on the existing model, perceived organizational support and emotional regulation can directly and indirectly influence teachers' employee well-being through work stress as a mediator. This research aims to prove the model above. The number of subjects in this research was 129 high school teachers from superior accredited Catholic schools in the province of East Java, Indonesia. The results of the data analysis show that the construct validity and reliability tests are met. Apart from that, perceived organizational support and emotional regulation can influence teachers' employee well-being both directly and indirectly through work stress as a mediator.

Mapping the Landscape: A Bibliometric Analysis of Online Learning in Higher Education

E-learning is now a requirement in all educational institutions, including schools, colleges, and universities, because of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The use of online learning methods requires teachers and students to adapt to maintain business as usual despite several challenges. Additionally, it alters how students behave. Some of them struggle with anxiety and sadness. This essay investigates how behavior of students is affected by online learning. Teaching staff, including parents, recommend that the government sector take initiatives to assist students who have limited access to the internet and devices—which are the primary requirements to be able to participate in online classes—while also boosting student engagement in virtual learning, particularly during this crucial pandemic.

Model of resilience strategies of small and medium-sized tourism enterprises post pandemic crises in marine-based destination

This study investigates the resilience strategies employed by small and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs) in Tanjung Bira, a marine-based destination in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Duchek's Model of resilience, which conceptualizes resilience as a meta-capability composed of three stages (anticipation, coping, and adaptation), is used as a key framework. An exploratory qualitative approach was employed, involving in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven informants representing various tourism stakeholders. Thematic analysis revealed several main strategies for SMTE resilience: collaboration with stakeholders, government intervention, implementation of digital marketing, strengthening SMTEs legality, and strengthening/diversification of SMTE products. Mapping these strategies onto Duchek's Model, the anticipation stage included strategic planning, risk assessment, and building dynamic capabilities; the coping stage consisted of immediate financial measures and policy support; and the adaptation stage involved diversification, technology and innovation adoption, and collaboration and networking. A key implication is that destination management organizations should create innovative products and leverage online platforms for marketing to increase visitor arrivals and boost SMTE product sales. The findings contribute to understanding SMTE resilience in the context of a marine-based destination in Eastern Indonesia and provide insights for policymakers and practitioners to support SMTE recovery and long-term sustainability post-pandemic.